Saturday, August 23, 2008

Step One: Picking the Right Pink

This stripe print is 1639 Strawberry Splendor by Kris Lammers and Maywood Studio.
I have plans for this fabric. I have plans for a Starter Quilt Simple (SQS) project that uses striped fabric. Any stripe, not just this one, but this one's Pink... and it's Saturday... so Happy Pink Saturday.


We're going to take this project really slowly.
Step One is picking your fabric.

Select your Stripe. You saw that one coming right? Now, on the selvage edge of the fabric will be a row of colored dots with numbers in them. Looks like the printer used 16 different colors when printing my strawberry stripe.

These dots will help you match your fabrics, they isolate the colors so you can better see what, exactly, the colors are in the first place. We'll need a "light" I'll be using a Kona cotton (not pictured) that matches the color number 4.

Now I'm just pulling fabrics out of my stash for this next part, but you could just as easily stand in the fabric shop and sort through all their fabrics instead. I want to emphasise the color of the strawberries. You may have purple sea monsters or orange race cars you want to match, the principle is the same no matter the color. Find the fabrics that say "Strawberry" (or "sea monster" or "race car") to you.

Here's my pink/berry stash spectrum:

Not all of those are going to work with my stripe fabric, and for this project you only need a couple. Here are four from my stash that will work with my stripe:
Numbers 5, 7, and 11 of the color dots are the same tones as these four fabrics. The "honey comb" print is a definite, and then I need two more... not three more, but I'm still deciding. So we'll talk yardage next time. Tonal prints, I think, work better with this project but they don't have to be all the same color. If your purple sea monster swims in aqua algae with a yellow fish, feel free to select purples, aquas, and yellows. I'll illustrate other steps of this SQS project using other "colorways" as this tutorial progresses so you can visualize your options -- but today it's all about PINKS.

Other pink postings can be found through Beverly at How Sweet the Sound.

Congratulations to Dana, from the Stone Rabbit. She won my giveaway.

31 comments:

  1. Happy Pink Saturday, Lochlanina.

    I love each of these fabrics, and I can hardly wait to see what you create. I know it will be fabulous.

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  2. Happy Pink Saturday!

    I love this fabric for the quilt you are making! It looks fantastic already!

    ~ Gabriela ~

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  3. That was so interesting---I didn't know the dots were there to help with color selection! Thanks for that tip! I was so HAPPY to find out I had won your giveaway! Yip-pee! You made my day! THANK you! Dana

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  4. Thank you for your walk through your fabric selections. I found it to be very interesting. I never knew what the color scale was on fabric. Great post for pink today.

    Thank you for your kind words for my surgery. I appreciate it so much.

    Hugs, Jeanne

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  5. I never knew that fabric had those numbers to match your fabrics. I'm sure your quilt will be stunning!

    Happy Pink Saturday!

    take care,
    Dawn

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  6. These fabrics look wonderful together, your quilt will be lovely. Happy Pink Saturday. Karen

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  7. Happy Pink Saturday.
    Your quilt is going to be beautiful with that fabric. I know nothing about quilting or sewing so that was interesting about the dots down the side.

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  8. Happy Pink Saturday!
    Love all your fabrics.

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  9. Hello,
    I love your fabric selections and can't wait to see what the finished project looks like.
    Happy pink Saturday
    Cori G.

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  10. Happy Pink Saturday to you Lochlanina. Pretty fabrics.

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  11. I'll have to keep checking back on your quilt. I really like the fabrics you chose. Happy Pink Saturday!

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  12. I love all the berry colors.

    Happy Pink Saturday to you,
    Hugs,
    Deborah

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  13. I love all your fabrics with lovely choices of pinks! Have a great Pink Saturday!

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  14. Lovely selection of pinks for the quilt. Happy Pink Saturday!

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  15. Lovely pink fabrics! I bet you're going to turn them into something beautiful! Blessings, Vanessa

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  16. oh my, can't wait to see your finished quilt. the fabrics are just beautiful.

    thanks for stopping by and have a lovely Pink Saturday! :)

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  17. I love those fabrics, beautiful! I can't wait to see what you make, I bet it will be lovely. I just love quilts and piecing them. Your paper cutting on the other post is beautiful...I have some bills I'd like to cut up that way...just a thought!
    Have a blessed day,
    Debbie

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  18. Hello Lochlanina, that fabric is beautiful! Your quilt will look great when it is done!
    Happy Pink saturday and thanks for sharing the pictures of your fabric.
    Love, Ann

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  19. Hey Lochlanina! Happy Pink Saturday to you. Your fabric is so pretty in pink. It's always so fun to find that special fabric that just makes your heart sing, isn't it? Have a great day!

    xoxo,
    Queenie!

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  20. Pretty fabrics! Looking forward to seeing your creation.
    Diane

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  21. Hello Lochlanina!

    Happy Pink Saturday! Lovely posting on fabric! Great tips and thanks for the encouragement for me to use red in my home! I trust you!
    Looking forward to seeing the quilt finished!

    Hugs,
    Maryjane

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  22. Thanks so much for the tutorial - I never knew what those numbers were on the fabric - what a great way to match. Wonderful ~Pink Saturday~ piece. H ope you have a great weekend !!!

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  23. Hi Lochlanina!!
    I love all the process!
    The fabrics are so cute!
    Happy Pink Saturday!!

    besitos from Argentina!
    Silvia

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  24. Your fabrics are so gorgeous! Even though I am not a sewer, I still enjoyed learning how you do the colour matching! Great post!

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  25. I love all of those shades. Your quilt is going to be beautiful. xoxo, Joanna

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  26. Oh, that is going to look so good!

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  27. Love your fabrics you picked. :) Nancy

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  28. Thanks for turning on the lights. I knew what the color circles meant after asking one time when fabric was being cut; but I never thought of using color circles to match fabric. Thanks so much.

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  29. fantastic post, I first thought I would see a quilt you had made, but that was a nice surprise, I never thought to match the dots to my fabrics, I always cut it off & never give a second thought but from now on the dots will be my friends LOL LOL
    Helen

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  30. All these fabrics are so lovely, they will make a beautiful *pink* quilt!

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